Refrigerator



Dec. 30, 1958 K. K. KESLING v 2,856,675

REFRIGERATOR Filed Dec. 19, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet -1 v /feiziz w 8 HISATTORNEY Dec. 30, 1958 KEsLlNG 2,866,675

' REFRIGERATOR Filed Dec. 19, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INV ENT OR.

Keifiz A. 11251121 759. 5 W 8.

' Hi5 ATTORNEY United States Patent REFRIGERATOR Keith K. Kesling,Dayton, Ohio, assignor to General Motors Corporation, Detroit, Mich., acorporation of Delaware Application December 19, 1957,.Serial No.703,942

9 Claims. (Cl. 312-214) This invention relates to refrigerators andparticularly to the construction of food storage refrigerator cabinets.

In the development of refrigerator cabinet art the insulated walls ofsuch cabinets are becoming thinner and thinner, due to improved and moreeffective insulating material used therein, and at the present time theoverall thickness of the walls is so small that there is insufficientspace therein to mount a door latching mechanism in a wall of thecabinet. In addition it is highly desirable to eliminate a largecomplicated door latching mechanism from a refrigerator cabinetconstruction in order to reduce manufacturing costs of the cabinet.Heretofore a single, rather heavy and bulky mechanical latch mechanismwas employed on refrigerator cabinets intermediate the top and bottom ofa door thereon for latching the door thereto. Such a single latchmechanism was usually provided with means for adjusting the closingposition of a door against a refrigerator cabinet so that thecompressive force applied to a resilient gasket on the door could bevaried to effect sealing of the door about a refrigerated chamber in thecabinet and yet prolong the life of the gasket. This has been essentialdue to manufacturing tolerances between a cabinet construction, its doorstructure and the mounting of a latch on the cabinet. Thus to eliminatesuch a latch mechanism from a refrigerator cabinet construction and toprovide for varying the compressive force to be applied to a gasketbetween the cabinet and its door at a refrigerated chamber accessopening renders the provision on a refrigerator for changing thedistance between a wall there- .of and the door thereon necessary. Itherefore contemplate the construction of a refrigerator cabinet havingan improved arrangement for latching a door shut there- .against and foradjusting the closed position of the door whereby a refrigerated chamberin the cabinet can be effectively sealed in air-tight fashion entirelyaround the chamber access opening.

An object of my invention is to provide a unique refrigerator cabinetconstruction and an improved arrangement for adjusting the mounting of adoor thereon to vary the compressive force applied by the door to aresilient gasket seal between the cabinet and its door when the door islatchedshut.

Another object of my invention is to provide a novel arrangement ofmounting a door on a refrigerator cabinet wherein bars adjustablerelative to the cabinet form a hinge connection of a door thereon, apart of the latchingmeans for holding the door shut against the cabinetand which bars also serve as trim strips on the front of the cabinettoenhance its appearance.

A'further object of my invention is to attach bars inwardly of the frontface of a refrigerator cabinet member above andbelow a swingable doormember thereon which bar attachment is adjustable relative to thecabinet from exteriorly of walls thereof for changing the distancebetween the door and cabinet front wall whereby to afford properalignment of the door member with the cabinet member for varying thecompressive force applied ice to a gasket located between the membersand utilized to seal, in air-tight fashion, an access opening to arefrigerated food storage chamber in the cabinet.

In carrying out the foregoing objects it is a still further and morespecific object of my invention to provide an improved arrangement forpivotally mounting a door member on a cabinet member and for latchingthe door to the cabinet which arrangement is adjustable on oppositesides of the door member to vary the compressive force applied to agasket between the members both on the latch side and on the hinged sideof the door.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparentfrom the'following description, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, wherein a preferred form of the present invention is clearlyshown.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a front view of a refrigerator constructed in accordancewith my invention with the refrigerator door shown latched to thecabinet;

Figure 2 is a view similar to Figure 1 showing the refrigerator cabinetdoor in open position;

Figure 3 is a top view of the refrigerator disclosed in Figures 1 and 2;

Figure 4 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 4-4of Figure 1 of a vertical door jamb structure of the refrigeratorcabinet;

Figure 5 is an enlarged broken fragmentary sectional view taken on theline 55 of Figure 1 showing an adjustable hinge mounting of the door onthe refrigerator cabinet; and

Figure 6 is an enlarged broken fragmentary sectional view taken on theline 6-6 of Figure 1 showing an adjustable arrangement for the latchside of the refrigerator cabinet door.

Referring to the drawings, for illustrating my invention, I show inFigures 1, 2 and 3 thereof a refrigerator including a cabinet member,generally designated by the reference numeral 10, provided with aplurality of insulated walls defining a food storage chamber 11 thereinhaving a front access opening normally closed by an insulated doorstructure or member 12. Chamber 11 is adapted to be cooled by arefrigerant evaporator of a closed refrigerating system associated withcabinet 10 and which evaporator may be located in the upper part of thefood chamber behind an inner door 13 as is conventional in the art forpreserving food products stored in the chamber. As best shown in Figure4 of the drawings cabinet 10 includes a metal shell 16 having aninturned flange 17 therearound and forming the outer top, bottom andsides of insulated walls of the cabinet. The food storage chamber 11 isformed by a metal liner .18 separated from shell 16 by a non-metallic ormolded plastic breaker strip 19. Breaker strip 19 forms a part of thefront face or door jamb of cabinet 10 and has an end portion hooked overan outwardly bent flange 21 on liner 18. The other end of breaker strip1.), along vertical sides of cabinet 10, fits between a rolled overspring-like edge portion 22 of a rearwardly directed integral extension23 on the flange 17 of shell 16. Liner 18-is spaced from shell 16 andthe space therebetwecn is filled with any suitable or desirableinsulating material 24. The access opening to food storage chamber 11 atthe front of cabinet 10 is normally closed by insulated door member 12and this door comprises an outer metal pan 26 and an inner preferablymolded plastic panel 27 spaced therefrom andhaving some of theinsulating material 24 disposed therebetwecn. A resilient gasket .28 issecured between edges of the door pan 26 and panel 27, by screws orthe-like as is conventional in the art, and extends continuously arounddoor member 12 on an inwardly facing shoulder thereon. Gasket 28' isadapted to be compressed between the members and 12 for sealing foodstorage chamber 11 in an airtight fashion about its front accessopening. A stationary handle 29 is mounted on door member 12 (seeFigures 1 and 2) but the door is devoid of a latch mechanismin thevicinity of and adapted ,to be actuated by this handle. The cabinet 10is provided with walls below shell 16 to form .a machine compartment,beneath the insulated chamber 11, closed at the front thereof by aremovable or detachable cover or panel and which compartment usuallyhouses the refrigerant translating device or unit of the refrigeratingsystem associated with the cabinet.

According to and in order that the aforesaid objects may be accomplishedI provide means for adjustably mounting door member 12 on cabinet member10 for horizontalswinging movement relative thereto for closing andsealing'the access opening of food storage chamber 11. As herein-beforestated it is desirable to mount door member 12 on cabinet member 10 sothat the distance therebetween can be changed to take care ofmanufacturing tolerances, to align door 12 with the front of cabinet 10and to vary the compressive force to be applied to gasket 28 when door12 is latched shut against cabinet 10. Accordingly I mount door 12 oncabinet 10 by upper and lower rigid metal bars 31 and 32 respectivelywhich are attached at their ends to the cabinet inwardly of outer wallsurfaces thereof and particularly inwardly of its front face byattachingmeans which permit adjustment of the bars 31 and 32 toward and/or away from the front of cabinet 10. 10 is provided with a horizontallyelongated aperture adjacent the top and bottom of the food chamberaccess opening. An elongated metal bar 31 fits in and substantiallyfills the aperture above the chamber access opening and the other bar 32fits in and substantially fills the aperture below the chamber accessopening. These bars 31 and 32, project from the forward face of cabinet10 and are spaced from and extend continuously along the upper and lowerperipheral edges of door 12. t will be noted that an inturned edge 33 onflange 17 of the top wall of cabinet shell 16 (see Figures 5 and 6) hasthe edge portion of one leg of a sidewise disposed U-shaped metal strip34 welded or otherwise rigidly secured thereto and that the edge portionof the other leg of this metal strip is bent outwardly as at 36. Thebent out portion 36 of the leg of metal strip 34 forms a spring-likeclip for receiving one end portion of a breaker strip or molding 19 sothat the molding is secured to the upper part of cabinet 10 in a mannersimilar to that along vertical sides thereof. The top wall of shell 16adjacent corners of cabinet 10 is depressed or cupped downwardly, as at37, and punched out to provide a screw hole therein. This screw hole inshell 16 is aligned with a screw hole provided in the upper leg ofU-shaped strip 34 and with an extruded and tapped hole in the lower legof strip 34. The ends of bar 31 along its inner edge are each providedwith a hole 38 which holes are elongated in a direction transverse tothe length of the bar. A screw 39 extends through the screw hole in cupportion 37 of shell 16, through the screw hole in strip 34, through theenlongated hole 38 in bar 31 at each end of the bar and is tightlythreaded into the tapped hole in the lower leg of strip 34. These twoscrews 39 rigidly and adjustably attach the bar 31 to cabinet 10inwardly of the front surface of the cabinet within the aperturesprovided therefor. A snap disc-like cap 41 is pressed into thedepression or cupped down portions of shell 16 to conceal the heads ofscrews 39 and to provide a continuous fiat surface along the top ofcabinet 10 at the front portion thereof. A hinge pin 42 is welded orotherwise rigidly secured to one end of bar 31 forwardly of theelongated hole 38 therein. A shank portion of this upper hinge pin 42depends from bar 31 and fits into a bore provided in a nonmetallicsocket element The front face of cabinet 43, shouldered as at 44, andlocked upon door 12 by a spring lock clip 46 which bears against doorpan 26 and bites into element 43. The construction of the hingeconnection of door 12 to cabinet 10 and of attachment of bar 32 to thecabinet below the bottom of the door is quite similar to the connectionsjust described but are substantially inverted. It will be noted that thebottom of shell 16, forming the top of the machine compartment incabinet 10 and closed at its front panel 30, is cupped upwardly, as at51, at the two front corner portions of the machine compartment. Thestructure of adjustably attaching the two bars 31 and 32 inwardly ofouter wall surfaces of cabinet 10 at the upper and lower front cornerportions of the cabinet on the side thereof opposite the hingeconnection of door 12 thereto is the same (see Figure 6) as abovedescribed. Thus it should be apparent, without a detailed description ofeach one of the four separate and similar adjustable attachments, thatthe door mounting means includes attachment of bars 31 and 32 at theirtwo ends to cabinet 10 for movement toward or into the cabinet andoutwardly relative thereto. Each bar 31 and 32 is provided with cut awayportions 52 and 53 providing a striking boss 54 therebetween at the endof the bars opposite their hinge pins 42 and forwardly of theirattachmenttocabinet 10 (see Figure 6). Cut away portion 53 of bars 31and 32 form a latch part or button keeper of upper and lower latch meansfor door 12; The other latch part of the latching means for door 12comprises a spring pressed device carried by each of the top and bottomperipheral edges of door member 12 and has a non-metallic button 56protruding therefrom into the cut away portion 53 or button keeper ofbars 31 and 32 to maintain the door latched shut against cabinet 10 withthe gasket 28 slightly compressed therebetween to seal the accessopening of chamber 11 .in air-tight fashion therearound. Button 56 ofeach of the spring pressed latch parts is anchored in a cage 57 forreciprocating movement which cage is locked to door 12 by being snappedin an opening in the pan 26 thereof at the upper and lower peripheraledges of the door. A spring 59 within cage 57 biases button 56 outwardlythereof so that upon a closing movement of .door 12 the protrudingbutton of the one latch part of the door latching means swings into cutaway portion 52 of the bars 31 and 32, strikes and rides over the boss54 and comes to rest in the cut away portion or button keeper 53 of thebars to latch the door shut against the cabinet. An outward forceapplied to the handle 29 on door 12 will cause the one latch part,button 56, of each of the spring pressed devices to be depressed intocages 57 so that they will ride forwardly past the other latch part,bosses 54, to open the door about its pivotal mounting or hinge pinconnections 42. In this manner access to food storage chamber 11 may behad. The socket elements 43 and the buttons 56 of the door latchingmeans are preferably formed of super poly-amide material which is soldon the market under the trade name of nylon. The shouldered portion 44of elements 43 and the buttons 56 break any metal-to-metal contactbetween pan 26 of door 12 and bars 31 and 32. shouldered portion ofsocket elements 43 provides a substantially frictionless-like bearingbetween bars 31 and 32 and the door thus rendering door 12 easily andquietly swingable about the hinge pins 42 relative to cabinet 10.

The adjustable mounting of bars 31 and 32 within the apertures in thefront wall of cabinet 10 inwardly of outer wall surfaces of the cabinetconceal the at; tachment of the bars to the cabinet. Bars 31 and 32 areplated and highly polished to form decorative or trim strips across thefront of cabinet 10 to improve or enhance its appe'arance. Theadjustable attachment of bars 31 and 32 while being concealed within theconfines of cabinet 10 are accessible from points extefiorl'y thereoffor adjustment both during assembly of the door to the cabinet and afterthe cabinet is installed. This permits proper alignment of door 12 withthe front of cabinet 10 both at the hinged side and at the latched sideof the door and insures that .a predetermined compressive force will beapplied to gasket 28 entirely around the access opening of chamber 11.Should the gasket 28 become worn or lose some of its resiliency orflexibility, after cabinet 10 has been in use for a period of time,whereby the door latching means will no longer-maintain a substantiallyair-tight seal about the chamber access opening the distance betweendoor 12 and the front face of cabinet 10 can be readily changed tocompensate for wear or loss of resiliency of gasket 28. The snap caps 41on top of cabinet 10 at the front corners thereof are removed fromcabinet shell 16 and the machine compartment front closure or panel isdetached from the cabinet. Thus both the upper and lower attachements ofbars 31 and 32 to cabinet 10 at their ends are accessible foradjustment. Screws 39' at one more corner of cabinet 10 may be loosenedto permit either or both ends of the bars 31 or 32 to be adjustedinwardly of the cabinet and/ or outwardly relative there to within theapertures which they occupy. This adjustment of the bars 31 and 32alters the distance between cabinet 10 and door 12 at any desired pointabout the periphery of the door so that gasket 28 may be compressed witha uniform greater or lesser force between the cabinet and door members.Thus the compressive force applied to gasket 28, even though theattaching points of bars 31 and 32 to cabinet 10 are concealed, may bevaried during assembly of the refrigerator or after the same has been inuse over an extended period of time from exteriorly of the cabinet.

It should from-the foregoing be apparent that I have provided animproved refrigerator construction the appearance of which is greatlyenhanced by a novel hinge connection and .a novel latching arrangementfor the door thereon. -In my improved refrigerator construction theordinary large bulky single expensive latch mechanism for the doorthereof is eliminated whereby such a mechanism does not determine thethickness of the insulated cabinet walls or its door jamb to thus renderthe cabinet capable of thinner wall construction as more effectiveinsulating material therefor is developed. A thinner walled cabinet suchas is depicted by the present disclosure is also advantageous in that agreater cubic foot storage space within a food chamber of a cabinethaving predetermined exterior dimensions is had.

While the form of embodiment of the invention as herein disclosedconstitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other formsmight be adopted, as may come within the scope of the claims whichfollow.

What is claimed is as follows:

1. In a refrigerator, a cabinet member having insulated Walls defining afood storage chamber therein provided with an access opening and aninsulated door member normally closing the opening, a resilient gasketon one of said members around said chamber opening adapted to be engagedby the other of said members for sealing the opening in air-tightfashion, means pivotally mounting said door member on said cabinetmember for swinging movement relative thereto, said means comprising afirst bar and a second bar attached to said cabinet and projectingoutwardly therefrom adjacent said chamber access opening continuouslyacross opposed peripheral edges of said door, one side of said doorhaving a hinge pin connection to one end portion of each of said barsfor swinging said door between the bars, latching means on the side ofsaid door opposite said hinge pin connections including a latch part onsaid opposed edges of the door and another latch part adjacent the otherend portion of each of said bars, and the attachment of said bars tosaid cabinet being adjustable independently of one another for shiftingthe bars toward and outwardly of the cabinet for changing the distancebetween said door member and said cabinet member whereby to align themwith one another and to vary the compressive force applied to saidgasket therebetween.

2. The combination defined by claim 1 wherein the hinge pin connectionseach include a pin projecting from the bars into opposed peripheraledges of the door'member.

3. In a refrigerator, a cabinet having insulated walls defining a foodstorage chamber therein provided with an access opening and an insulateddoor normally closing the opening, a resilient gasket on said dooradapted to engage said cabinet about said chamber access opening forsealing the chamber thereat in air-tight fashion, means pivotallymounting said door on said cabinet for swinging movement relativethereto, said means comprising a first bar and a second bar attached tosaid cabinet inwardly of an outer wall thereof and projecting outwardlytherefrom adjacent said chamber access opening continuously acrossopposed peripheral edges of said door, one side of said door having ahinge pin connection to one end portion of each of said bars forswinging said door between the bars into abutment with said cabinet,latching means on the side of said door opposite said hinge pinconnections including a spring pressed button protruding from each ofsaid opposed edges of the door and a button keeper adjacent the otherend portion of each of said bars, and the attachment of said bars tosaid cabinet being adjustable from exteriorly of the cabinetindependently of one another for shifting the bars toward and outwardlyof said cabinet outer wall for changing the distance between said doorand said cabinet outer wall whereby to align them with one another andto vary the compressive force applied to said gasket when the door isclosed against and latched to the cabinet by said latching means.

4. The combination defined by claim 2 wherein the hinge pin connectionseach include a pin projecting from the bars into opposed peripheraledges of the-door.

5. In a refrigerator, a cabinet member having insulated walls defining afood storage chamber therein provided with an access opening in thefront wall of said cabinet normally closed by an insulated door member,a resilient gasket on one of said members around said chamber openingadapted to be engaged by the other of said members for sealing theopening in air-tight fashion, means pivotally mounting said door memberon said cabinet member, said means comprising a first bar disposed in anelongated aperture provided in the front wall of said cabinet spacedfrom and located above the chamber access opening therein and a secondbar disposed in an elongated aperture provided in the front wall of saidcabinet spaced from and located below the chamber access opening, eachof said bars being attached to said cabinet inwardly of its said frontwall, the upper bar projecting forwardly of said cabinet front wallcontinuously across the top peripheral edge of said door and the lowerbar projecting forwardly of said cabinet front wall continuously acrossthe bottom peripheral edge of said door, one side of said door memberhaving a hinge pin connection to one end portion of each of said barsfor swinging the door between the bars into abutment with said cabinetmember, latching means on the side of said door opposite said hinge pinconnections including a latch part on said top and said bottomperipheral edges of the door and another latch part adjacent the endportion of each of said bars opposite said one end portion thereof, andthe attachment of said bars to said cabinet inwardly of its front wallbeing adjustable from exteriorly of the cabinet member independently ofone another for shifting the bars within the apertures relative to saidcabinet member for changing the distance between said door member andthe front cabinet wall whereby to align said members with one anotherand to vary the compressive force applied to said gasket therebetween.

front wall of said cabinet about said chamber access opening for sealingthe chamber thereat in air-tight fashion, means pivotally mounting saiddoor on said cabinet, said means comprising a first bar disposed in andsubstantially closing an elongated aperture provided in the front wallof said cabinet spaced from and located above the chamber access openingtherein and a second bar disposed in and substantially closing anelongated aperture provided in said cabinet front wall in spacedrelation to and located below said chamber access opening, each of saidbars being attached to said cabinet inwardly of its said front wall, theupper bar projecting forwardly of said cabinet front wall continuouslyacross the top peripheral edge of said door and the lower bar projectingforwardly of said cabinet front wall continuously across the bottomperipheral edge of said door, one side of said door having a hinge pinconnection to one end portion of each of said bars for swinging the doorbetween the bars into abutment with said cabinet, latching means on theside of said door opposite said hinge pin connections including a springpressed button pro truding from each of the top and bottom peripheraledges of said door and a button keeper adjacent the other end portion ofeach of said bars, and the attachment of said bars to said cabinetinwardly of its front wall-being adjustable from exteriorly of thecabinet independently of one another for shifting the bars into andoutwardly from said cabinet front wall for changing the distance betweensaid door and the front wall of said cabinet whereby to align them withone another and to vary the compressive force applied to said gasketwhen the door is closed 8 against and latched to thecabinet by saidlatching means.

8. The combination defined by claim 6 wherein the hinge pins are on thebars fitting in non-metallic socket elements carried by the door andhaving an enlarged portion disposed between the bars and door providinga bearing therebetween.

9. In a refrigerator, a cabinet member having insulated walls defining afood storage chamber therein provided with an access opening in thefront wall of the cabinet and a door member therefor, a resilient gasketon one of said members around said chamber opening adapted to be engagedby the other of said members for sealing the opening in air-tightfashion, means for pivotally mounting said door member on said cabinetmember and for latch ing the door to the cabinet to compress said gaskettherebetwcen, said means comprising a first bar and a second baradjacent said chamber access opening and extending continuously acrossopposed peripheral edges of said door, said bars being attached at eachof their ends to said cabinet inwardly of walls thereof and projectingoutwardly beyond the front thereof, one side of said door having a hingeconnection to an end portion of each of said bars for swinging the doorbetween the bars against said cabinet, said means also comprising a pairof latches on the side of said door opposite said hinge pin connectionseach including a latch part on said opposed edges of the door andanother latch part adjacent the other end portion of each of said barsand the attachment of said ends of said bars inwardly of Walls of saidcabinet being adjustable from exteriorly thereof independently of oneanother for shifting the bars relative to said cabinet front whereby toalign said door member therewith and to vary the compressive forceapplied to said gasket.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,348,955 Buchanan May 16, 1944 2,819,138 Betz Jan. 7, 1958 FOREIGNPATENTS 700,446 Great Britain Dec. 2, 1953

